That looks insane. Guess I don't need to take my carbon bike up to RI?

Not my photo but this just shot up to Heady/Pliny territory. Just nabbed 4 bottles that were bottled 4 days ago!

I just grabbed all of these. Gonna enjoy one or two for my birthday.



I also snagged 2 bottles of Bourbon County Barleywine.

Eeehhhh, gonna hit 60 on sunday.

fucking SIXTY.


And rain a few times between now and then, so it may be ok.

That Cold Mountain and their Tasgall Ale (scotch ale) that I sent you last time are some of the better offerings from Highland (and I don't think they even make the Tasgall anymore) but most of their stuff, for me, ranges from good to forgettable. The South, IMO, is still finding it's footing in the beer world and there are very few "must try" beers or "experience" beers as you put it but there are some interesting things happening for sure. Jai Alai comes very close to must try but honestly, most must try beers get that rep due to lack of availability IMO.

I really like that Festive Ale. One of my favorite Sweetwater offerings. It's not mind blowing but it walks a great line of Christmas ale and good stout all while hiding it's 8.2% ABV.

Saving that guy for saturday night. Neuro / Neurette coming over. Fireplace will be going unless the forecast is right... might be in the damned 60's by sunday.

I haven't been drinking much beer lately but did have these two (new to me) this week:



Strand Brewing - Berliner Weisse with Cherry Blossom

This is the beer that I mentioned that someone at the brewery dug out of a back room when I was I was visiting the brewery. I'm a big fan of their Berliner Weiss but had never had the one with Cherry Blossoms added. It was a pretty nice enhancement. Not the best winter beer but this is LA and good is good anyway.

Prairie Ales - The Beer That Saved Christmas



It's an old ale style aged in oak barrels with wild bacteria added. I'm a sucker for everything these guys do and this is pretty good but I prefer their wild saisons. Still, I'd happily drink more of this.


I've been telling myself that I need to stop buying beer before I drink down my supply, especially of the big 750ml bottles which I rarely feel inclined to open. I'm trying to stop myself but today I found and bought:

Goose Island Bourbon County Stout, 12 oz - $5.99
Noble Aleworks/Beachwood Brewing - Ghost of Jacob Barley - Winter Warmer with Coffee & Cinnamon, 22oz - $9.99
FiftyFifty Eclipse Stout aged in High West Rye Barrel, 22oz - $29.99
FiftyFifty Eclipse Stout aged in Elijah Craig 12yr Barrel, 22oz - $29.99

oh well, not sure I'd see any of those again if I waited until my supply was lower.

The berliner with cherry blossoms sounds fantastic.

I got a Breury Oude Tart that I'm looking forward to taking down over Xmas.

Also, a sixer of Ballast Point Big Eye IPA which, to my knowledge, is the first appearance of Ballast Point in these parts.

Nothing that really matches the stuff I drank last weekend, but I had North Coast XXV Anniversary Ale and Petrus Winter #9 Ale tonight.

I'm treating myself to a bomber of Lagunitas The Hairy Eyeball Ale tonight. It was pretty damn cheap at the liquor store and has been magnificent so far.

We had a guest stay with us from Florida. She saw me open the package from Derris with the Jai Alai in it. She flew home for christmas, saw it for sale in the airport on her way back, and snagged me 2 more cans. Shit was good. More rye and caramel than I remember the first go-round.

More than a week between posts in this thread = Board DEADER than ever.

I've had a few things new to me in the last couple of weeks:

Ale Industries - Rye'd Piper

Ale Industries is a small'ish brewery in Concord, CA (East Bay). I've read a bunch about some of their beers in different S.F. area beer newsletters but they don't really have much distribution (read none) in Southern CA. So when I found this in one of my beer shops, I jumped at the chance to buy it. It's a hoppy red beer with some rye malt added which gives it some roasty flavor with a little bit of chocolate notes. It's one of their year-round standard offerings and pretty good overall. I think they are more known for their special releases so probably a brewery well worth paying attention to.

Dogfish Head - Theobroma

While the last beer had some chocolate notes from the rye malt, this one essentially is a chocolate beer with cocoa nibs and cocoa powder added. I've had chocolate stouts and chocolate porters, but nothing like this. It's a light golden beer just with chocolate, honey and chile added. I'm not generally a huge fan of Dogfish Head, and I'm not even a really a big fan of Chocolate. I mainly bought this thinking I'd split it with Fem G who does love chocolate. She wasn't interested though so I drank the whole thing and strangely, it really worked for me. Kinda cool when that happens.

Jester King Salt Lick Pecan Wood Smoked Saison

I had a 22 oz bottle of this that I drank with dinner one night last week. Everything Jester King makes is a sour and this is no different with some bacteria/wild yeasts added. It also had a bit of smokiness from the pecan wood. It really worked well playing against my seared scallops. 22 oz of it was a bit much for one sitting and I enjoyed it much more with the food than on its own. These guys are capable of good stuff, but this wasn't great. Prairie Ales is really my go-to now for this kind of beer.

Bell's - Two Hearted Ale

I've had this once before on tap but had never found it in bottle in CA, and was really surprised to find it about a month ago. I don't think they have any distribution out here so I'm not sure what one of my stores was doing with any of it. I was happy to find it and wish I could find more of it. It deserves all the love it gets and I'm not even that much of an IPA guy.

Bruery - Otiose w/ Guava

I bought this a few years ago and have been sitting on it. I consider Bruery to be the West Coast Version of Dogfish head. They do a lot of strange beers and a lot of them don't work at all. This isn't as weird as some like their Horchata beer or White Chocolate Beer. Maybe that's why I actually liked it a lot. Just a really good, barrel aged sour with some guava fruit added.

Golden Road - One Hundred and Two

A really nice belgian pale ale that they created especially for a local beer bar's 2nd anniversary party. These guys have come so far in the last year. I used to think they were merely respectable but they changed brewers and their beers have gotten alot better.

Ballast Point - Habanero Sculpin Ale

Sculpin Ale is one of the better DIPAs from S. CA. I think it's really just a notch below Pliny the Elder. This is a special release version with habanero peppers added. It was pretty good and much spicier than I expected. Pretty enjoyable but I wouldn't want more than 1.

Telegraph Brewery - Prime Meridian

Telegraph is based out of Santa Barbara. Prime Meridian is a dark belgian ale, which is moderately sessionable at 7%. It packed lots of flavor but wasn't heavy or boozy, and was the perfect beer for afternoon, outdoor drinking with a bbq brisket sandwich yesterday.

I learn so much from your writeups. So many breweries I have never heard of out here, plus things like sculpin with habaneros... I love the regular one. Last one I had was at the end of a 44 mile off-road bike ride I did out in western Mass this summer, with the pug on the front of the bike. Hit a store on the way back into town, and lo and behold there was ol' Sculpin in the fridge. -yoink- Went down to the river post-ride, stripped to the bike shorts, cracked it open and waded in.

I really like the Ballast Point Big Eye (so much so that I bought it again). Very West Coast but not overwhelmingly so. Hopefully we'll get distro on Sculpin as well at some point.

I'm not sure if I've ever even had the Big Eye. I think the Sculpin is generally speaking, more highly regarded although I've heard some people say that they like Big Eye better. If you do start getting more BP offerings, my favorites are:

Sculpin
Victory at Sea (an Imperial Porter with Coffee and Vanilla)
Sea Monster (Oatmeal Stout)
Indra Kunindra (a Stout with Madras Curry)
Yellowtail (a Kolsch)

I had my first Founders KBS last night. Really good although I was somehow expecting a little more based on its reputation. It would be really nice to have something like this available though for a reasonable price (I think I paid less than $5 for a 12oz bottle) and presumably by six pack. When I think about it that way, I guess I get it more.

I also had a pliny last night...ohg we have it rough.

Was it a KBS or just the regular Founders Breakfast Stout (FBS)? Because you cant generally just go out and buy KBS, but FBS is a widely available seasonal.

I guess I'm going to have to check on that. Neither are generally available out here. I bought it at the same store, at the same time I bought the Bells Two Hearted which also isn't available out here. You've got me thinking that it probably was just the FBS but I'll need to check. I bought two so I still have one.

Wow, you found an 09 Anchor Xmas? Nice one.

I was watching this pbs show about farming in md cause I'm a dork and learned that a place in Mt Airy is growing their own hops and grain and selling the beer on premises. A pilgrimage is called for, if it's ever warm enough to breathe outside again!

Growing your own ingredients (all of them) PLUS malting... is a lot of feckin work. Wow.

Think he sends it out for malting. They showed another md guy who malts in coordination with a nearby brewery (to him, not me, way out west) but no local hops. The ag dept sees hops as a potentially rapidly increasing thing here.

Rapidly increasing as in "this could be a booming business for our farmers" or "this could go feral and turn into an invasive species?" Because I've heard people express both concerns. And BJW check the homebrew thread for the Oxford Guide To Beer book I just got for christmas. Holy hell, recommended.

anyone catch this story on NPR this morn: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2014/01/09/255830836/blending-red-wine-with-porter-ale-a-crossover-beer-worth-the-buzz
nothing new, but it hit home since i used to consult for a winery that sold it's frontenac & chambourcin lees to a relatively known Midwest brewery in creation of a similar hybrid. while they'd not yet honed their recipe, the samples i tasted were lousy. clearly not my bag, but i'm not very adventurous when it comes to cross-breeding libations.

Well, I have now. Interesting, but super detailed. Seems like wine is just too different than beer for a hybrid of the two to actually appeal to wine people, hence hubby's "I love it" and wifey's "Hmmm..."

I've had Dogfish Head's beer made with grape must. It's not bad by any stretch, but my immediate reaction was I'd rather either be drinking a glass of wine or a different and better beer. Dogfish Head is always hit or miss with me though, so maybe DC Brau has come up with something better. I really like their collaboration with Epic Brewery, Fermentation without Representation, which is a Pumpkin Porter. It's probably the best Epic beer I've had so that probably says something about DC Brau.

I don't know that I'd expect a hybrid like that to make a beer fan of someone who only drinks wine, but there are plenty of people that like both.